Kōichi Sugiyama

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Kōichi Sugiyama.png

Kōichi Sugiyama (すぎやま こういち Sugiyama Kō'ichi) (his birth name is 椙山 浩一, which is pronounced the same) (born April 11, 1931; died September 30, 2021[1]) was the lead composer of the Dragon Quest series, with other works done for Japanese TV shows, such as Space Runaway Ideon, Cyborg 009 and Gatchaman. Sugiyama worked on the Dragon Quest series for an incredible 35 years, composing over 500 tracks for the games. Because of the incredible length of his career, Suigyama's accomplishments have been officially recognized by the Guinness World record association as the longest lived composer of video game music.

Sugiyama's music was immortalized on Friday, July 23rd 2021 during the first day of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. The series main theme, the Overture, was broadcast before hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide as the majority of the song started the opening ceremony's parade of nations, with the final bars of Overture playing at the parade's conclusion when the Olympic motto was projected on the field.

History with Dragon Quest

Sugiyama started composing with a smaller Japanese home computer called the "PC-8801", and was working for Enix (now known as Square Enix). In 1986 he composed for the hit RPG video game Dragon Quest for the Nintendo Entertainment System. That game became something like an orchestral introduction to younger people in Japan. Sugiyama is the very first video game composer to record his video game music with a live orchestra. In 1986, the CD "Dragon Quest I Symphonic Suite" was released, utilizing the London Philharmonic Orchestra to interpret Sugiyama's melodies.

In 1987, he composed for Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, and then held the very first video game music concert in the world. "Family Classic Concert" was arranged and conducted by Sugiyama himself. It was performed by the Tokyo String Music Combination Playing Group on August 20, 1987 at Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan. "Dragon Quest I Symphonic Suite" and "Dragon Quest II Symphonic Suite" were performed. The "Family Classic Concerts" have done exceptionally well with audiences every time; since then, Sugiyama has held over eighteen of them all across Japan.

Sugiyama continued to compose for video games from 1987 to 1990. In 1991 he introduced a series of video game music concerts, five in all, called the Orchestral Game Concerts, which were performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. The performances included over eighteen different video game composers such as Koji Kondo, Yoko Kanno, Kentarou Haneda, Nobuo Uematsu, Keiichi Suzuki, as well as Sugiyama himself. These concerts were held from 1991 to 1996; during this time, Sugiyama composed for other video games and arranged some of them to be performed in the Orchestral Game Concerts.

In September 1995, Sugiyama composed the Dragon Quest Ballet, which was choreographed by Minoru Suzuki. It premiered in 1996, and came back in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002. During those years, Kōichi also released the Symphonic Suites for the Dragon Quest games he had worked on thus far. As this was the very first ballet inspired by a video game in the world, Sugiyama was awarded a place in the Guinness World Records book for his accomplishment.

In late 2004, he finished and released the Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King Original soundtrack, and the "Dragon Quest VIII Symphonic Suite" as well.

In 2005, he was holding a series of concerts in Japan with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra for Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, as well as his classic compositions from the past. In August 2005, his music from Dragon Quest was performed live at the European Symphonic Game Music Concert. There, for the first time, his music was presented in a live symphonic concert outside Japan.

From 2006, he also worked on diverse projects, one of them being the music for Dragon Quest Swords. On August 19, 2006 Sugiyama announced Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies's production in Japanese video game magazine Famitsu as saying "I'm not sure when Dragon Quest IX will be released, but it seems that progress is continually being made. I'm personally excited."

On January 26th, 2016, Sugiyama received his second award from Guinness World Records, celebrating his status as the world's oldest video game composer at age 85.

Dragon Quest Discography

Torneko conducting.png

Non-Dragon Quest Works

Sugiyama has a lengthy career of composition spanning several decades. Some of the highlights of his work include:

Political jingles

  • Nippon no Kokoro (Heart of Japan), official party anthem

Film and Animation

  • The Return of Ultraman (1971), television series
  • Kum-Kum (1975), anime
  • Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie (1978), animated film
  • Gatchaman II (1978), anime
  • Cyborg 009 (1979), anime
  • Space Runaway Ideon (1980), anime
  • Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Galaxy (1980), animated film
  • The Sea Prince and the Fire Child (1981), animated film
  • The Ideon: A Contact (1982), animated film
  • The Ideon: Be Invoked (1982), animated film
  • The Yearling (1983), animated film
  • Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), voted by Japanese fans as the best Godzilla film in a 2014 poll.
  • The Voyage of Little Sindbad (1991), live-action film
  • Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (1991), anime
  • Magic Knight Rayearth (1994), anime
Sugiyama's cameo as a playable and enemy species in 46 Okunen Monogatari: The Shinkaron

Other Video Games

  • World Golf (1985~1990), various
  • Wingman II (1986), various
  • Jesus (1987), various
  • Angelus: Akuma no Fukuin (1988), NEC PC-8801
  • 46 Okunen Monogatari: The Shinkaron (1990), NEC PC-9801
  • Backgammon (1990), Famicom
  • Jesus 2 (1991), various
  • Akagawa Jiro no Yuurei Ressha (1991), Famicom
  • Tetris 2 & Bombliss (1991), Famicom
  • Hanjuku Hero: Ah Sekaiyo Hanjukunare (1992)
  • E.V.O. Search for Eden (1992), Super Nintendo
  • Monopoly (1993), Super Famicom
  • Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (1995), Super Famicom, Nintendo DS, iOS
  • Shiren the Wanderer GB: Monster of Moonlight Village (1996), Game Boy
  • Shiren the Wanderer 2: Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion (2000), Nintendo 64
  • Derby Stallion 64 (2001), Nintendo 64

Pop singles

  • Rome no Ame - The Peanuts (1966)
  • Koi no Fuga - The Peanuts (1967)
  • Love Only For You - The Tigers (1968)
  • Flower Necklace - The Tigers (1968)
  • Gakuseigai no Kissaten - Garo (1972)
  • Watashi wa Nakanai - Izumi Yukimura (1972)
  • Kimi no Tanjobi - Garo (1973)
  • Heart Dorobo - Candies (1976)
  • Hatsukoi Sunshine - Noriko Hidaka (1980)
  • Koi wa Marshmallow - Yoshie Kashiwabara (1981)

Compositional Style and Inspirations

Sugiyama has stated that Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and George Frideric Handel are his main sources of inspiration. His style varies between games and other media, but maintains a strong thematic quality reminiscent of Baroque and early-Classical work.

Influence on the medium

The professionalism of Sugiyama's work changed the way that people viewed video game music in Japan, trascending the technical limitations of the 8-bit NES to speak to the listener. As mentioned above, Koichi Sugiyama's Family Classic Concert was the first game music to be played by a live orchestra, performed on August 20th, 1987 at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. This transformed the Japanese public's perception on the nature of the medium, paving the way for countless other composers to follow.

Trivia

  • Suigiyama's first connection to the Godzilla series predated vs Biollante by 21 years; he created the song Koi no Fuga for the Peanuts sister duo in 1968.Beyond their musical career in their home country, the Peanuts are famous for their portrayal of the diminutive Shobijin in three of Toho studios kaiju-eiga: being Mothra, Mothra vs Godzilla, and Ghidorah: the three-headed monster during the early-to-mid 60's.

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  1. ↑ http://sugimania.com/
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